THE PSYCHO-SHARK OF JOAN VAN ARK!

Almost
I normally preface these Intro's with how the named person hasn't been seen in the company of the titular marine monstrosity, although in this case Joan seems to have undergone a dramatic DNA fusion with a shark as she looks both blue and scaley.
     I realise this is rather unkind, however go Google the term if you don't believe me.

A close up of Joan.  No, hang on a minute -

You Can't Always Get What You Want
 - which can make you rather obsessive about getting it, without taking out a bank loan to get it, whatever "it" may be.
    In this case, an action thriller starring Chris Walken called "McBain", he being the central protagonist.  It only scores about 5.5 on IMDB but Conrad has fond memories of watching it several times, usually fortified with a bottle of beer.  Well, it's not available on those naughty websites that promote downloading films that others have uploaded.  It wasn't in Fopp, nor Vinyl Exchange, nor the Music Exchange.  It seems to have vanished from human reckoning.  So to the new 3D Captain Scarlet series of a few years back.

He's red, he's a captain, close enough

     Nor could I find anything by Apparat Organ Quartet, nor My Bloody Valentine, nor Type O Negative at Fopp.
     Damn!  Causality is conspiring against me!
     Actually I got an MBV CD at Vinyl Exchange, so it's not all bad.
     But still!  Why no McBain?

Today's Haul
I assure you I won't go buying like again this for a while - it was payday recently, hence the amount of stuff.
The CDs

What you might call eclectic

     From the top left:  Quiet Village, My Bloody Valentine, U2
                                 Jean Michelle Jarre, The National, Muse
                                 Brian Eno, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Peaking LIghts
     Why am I showing you this?  There are 2 reasons.  1)  It's my blog and I post what I like and 2) Proof that I am Hipster Dad.  That Peaking Lights CD is as a result of the FOPP Staff Recommendation, proof that things travel in a circle.
The Books

The Books*.

     I suppose an encyclopedia on the 3rd Reich is a manageable prospect as it was only around for 12 years.  Encyclopedia of the Soviet Union would be a lot harder to write thanks to the timeframe - 1918 to 1991, over 70 years**.
     Alan Moorehead wrote the masterful "African Trilogy" as a war correspondent.  "Gallipolli" is his attempt long after the fact to create a work about the ill-fated amphibious operation; the previous owner has added a little pencil preface on the flyleaf:  "Superbly written but derivative and laced with subjective opinions" says Mitchell Hickey in "Gallipolli" 1995"
     Ooooh miaow!
The DVDs

     Conrad saw the trailer for "The Machine" and was intrigued; it predates "Ex-Machina" but seems to be a British reflection on similar issues.  So expect dour bleak greyness instead of Hollywood popcorn, eh?
     "Dead Snow 2" picks up where "Dead Snow" left off, with the zombie Nazis still around and much too lively for liking (one supposes that the cold prevents them from rotting quickly), and a single survivor from the Norwegian tourists, minus an arm.
     Hmmm.  With this, and "Dead Snow", and "Thal", and "Troll Hunter" Conrad has enough for an evening of Norwegian horror films.

 - here an aside.  I DO NOT CARE who killed Lucy Beale!  In fact I have fingers and toes crossed that they serial murder their way through every character and then do the same for other soap operas.
     That is all.

Geoff Barrow
Conrad has been mentioning Portishead of late, and Geoff is one of the group with a load of other different projects on the go.  Alison*** mentioned that he has a bunker full of strange electronic instruments that he messes about on - presumably gadgets like the theremin or ondes martinot.  Let's see what Youtube has to say for itself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHX3mo_QgPM

     Well well.  An album of music inspired by Mega-City One and Judge Dredd.  That gets my vote!
     But wait, there's more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfDRTXga6_E

     Geoff and musical partner Ben Salisbury did the soundtrack for "Ex-Machina".  I told you, it all comes round in a circle ...

Finally!
Today I finished uploading my 61 classical CDs to i-tunes, so I can now carefully file the wicker basket away out of sight and make some room.

     Careful by Conrad's standards, that is.  Your view may differ.

Suddenly, From Out Of Nowhere -
Came a Lego model of an Angel interceptor:

Randomness.  Keeps you readers on your toes.

Hang On, I'm Confused -

Green and scarlet at the same time?

Gerry Anderson Ergonomics: The Unitron Tank
This piece of kit doesn't seem to have been given any technical details or breakdowns, or none that I can find.  However, you need not worry, as Conrad is a bit of an anorak when it comes to tanks, and he can spout convincing nonsense at the drop of a hairclip, never mind a hat.
     Anyway, the Unitron:

It looks the business.

     Note that technology by 2065 has managed to create Chobham armour that can be used in curved sections, rather than the rather generic-looking flat armour we can only attain in the present day.  It rather looks like a Churchill on super-steroids.

Grandaddy!

     It's tricky to get a sense of scale for the Unitron but judging from a screenshot when it rams a barricade of burning trucks -

     - I'd say it's far higher in silhouette than a Challenger or Abrams and probably masses close to 100 tons.  I would therefore guess that it's main gun is a 150mm bore weapon and to judge from this shot^

BAM!

    - not only is this weapon significantly larger than current tank guns, it is also gyroscopically-stabilised and can fire on the move.
     Nor is that all.  The Unitron also mounts dual flamethrowers, viz:

REAL flamethrowers!

     This is surely the most dangerous Anderson model evah - those flamethrowers are actually throwing flame, and I don't doubt these scenes were shot with a long lens and the camera crew standing very far away.
     Now, this wouldn't be a Gerry Anderson vehicle without an Achilles heel; in this case, if directed by computer to attack a target, the Unitron will keep attacking until either the target is destroyed or it is.  So, it attacks the Supreme Commander of Earth Forces^^, and will continue to do so until he's toast.  Given those twin flamethrowers this might not be long.
     The Angel Interceptors^^^ attempt to stop Unitron, but despite three almost point-blank hits, it carries on.  I said "Chobham" armour but if those jets are using depleted-uranium large-calibre cannon rounds then it's a step beyond Chobham.  Chobbeef?
     I have to say that the model work in this episode, "Point 783" is excellent and Unitron really sounds like a monstrous great metal murderer.  One of the staff present makes a point that it's designed to attack "Computer-controlled mechanised forces - not humans", which must be a sop to critics who would be horrified at seeing this thing being sent against fragile human armies.  Mary Whitehouse cannot have watched this or she'd have fallen dead out of her chair.

Guaranteed to last 0.015 seconds against Unitron

* Obviously so.  Just making sure there are no misunderstandings.
** Note absence of satirical contemporary references.  BOOJUM! - avoiding Current Affairs since 2013!
*** So sunny a personality she can give you a tan if she stands too close
^ Do you see what I did there?
^^ How moral and optimistic that we have a single armed force for the planet; obviously our 2065 descendents are a lot more advanced morally and politically than we are.
^^^ QV Above.  Circles, like I said.